Sunak’s government set to miss £11.6bn climate commitment
Rishi Sunak’s promise to meet an £11.6bn climate and nature pledge looks set be missed, according to a leaked internal memo.
The briefing note to ministers sets out that the international funding commitment would be a “huge challenge” and require backing for other aid projects to be slashed.
The government insisted it is delivering on the pledge and said suggestions the commitment could be dropped are “false”.
The memo, obtained by the Guardian, says the commitment to provide £11.6 billion between April 2021 and March 2026 was made at a time when the government was meeting its legally-enshrined target of spending 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas aid.
That commitment was dropped to 0.5 per cent as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on the nation’s finances.
The leaked document said meeting the climate pledge within this spending “would squeeze out room for other commitments such as humanitarian and women and girls”.
The promise was made by Boris Johnson in 2019 but the BBC reported the memo pointed to “subsequent turbulence” in the economy – such as the pandemic – which had “turned a stretching target into a huge challenge”.
Meeting it would require a “reorientation” of the budget on a scale which “has not previously been achieved”.
Ministers including Rishi Sunak have publicly declared the £11.bn commitment remains in place.
A government spokesman said: “Claims that the international climate finance pledge is being dropped are false.
“As the Prime Minister set out at Cop27, the government remains committed to spending £11.6bn on international climate finance and we are delivering on that pledge.
“We spent over £1.4bn on international climate finance over the course of the 2021/22 financial year, supporting developing countries to reduce poverty and respond to the causes and impacts of climate change.
“We will publish the latest annual figures in due course.”
Press Association – David Hughes